“You don’t think you should get that checked?” I ask him.
“No. I’ll live.”
“But what if it’s broken?”
“Then it’ll heal.”
“Not if you keep fighting, it won’t.”
“Careful, River. It almost sounds like you care about me,” he taunts without looking over at me.
“I do care about you,” I barely whisper, but he heard it. His head turns to the side, and he looks at me so intently I want to crawl under these blankets and disappear.
“You shouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“I warned you that nothing good comes from me.”
“I haven’t seen anything bad yet.” He watches me, and I swear I can see into his soul. His eyes dance between mine before he leans over and presses his lips gently to mine. I don’t move. I don’t dare move. I let him kiss me. I let him take things a far as he wants, and when he pulls back, I stare into his eyes.
“You’re so different,” he murmurs.
“How so?”
“You don’t back down, River. You don’t look at me and turn the other way like most girls do when they learn that I’m basically homeless.”
“That doesn’t define you,” I whisper.
“It means a lot to some people.”
“I’m not some people.”
“I can see that. Come here.” He lays back and holds his arm out for me. I scoot across the bed and rest my head on his chest gently, careful not to hurt him more, but this is where he likes me to sleep.
And just like that, I fall asleep listening to his heartbeat.
Chapter 19
Royal
“Here,” I say, tossing her another box of hair dye. She looks it over and then stands, heading to the bathroom. If she plans on sticking around for a while, I don’t want anyone to recognize her, and I have plans for her today.
“You think this is a good idea?” Jeremy asks.
“Why not? We haven’t done shit fun in a long time. It’ll give us something to do and get out of this hotel for a while,” I tell him.
“Yeah, you’re right, but what if someone recognizes her?”
“I don’t know. Technically, she’s here of her own free will,” I remind him. We’re not forcing her to stay. She can leave at any time, and she didn’t have to take the hair dye and color her hair again if she didn’t want to.
Jeremy and I talk while she’s in the bathroom. When she comes out almost an hour later, her hair is black once more without the blonde creeping through. She glances over at me but doesn’t say anything before sitting in the chair across the room.
“We’re going out,” I tell her.
“Where?”
“The fair,” I say. Her head snaps up, and her eyes lock with mine. A slow smile pulls across her face as she looks at me.
